Surprising Treatment for Hot Flashes – Get Moving!

The last thing you might want to do if you are having hot flashes is exercise. It sounds like a recipe for disaster. You might even have a hot flash just thinking about exercising and sweating. But as illogical as it may seem, regular exercise really can help minimize hot flashes.

Cause of Hot Flashes

The actual cause of hot flashes is not fully understood, but it’s believed the issue is related to how decreasing hormones play games with your internal thermostat. During menopause, you become more sensitive to temperature changes – whether it be external or internal.

Menopause Symptoms that Cause Hot Flashes

Some of the common symptoms of menopause are stress, anxiety, weight gain, and mood swings. Each of those can trigger hot flashes. For example, if you get stuck in traffic making you late for work, the stress and anxiety of the event could trigger a hot flash. Finding ways to manage those menopause symptoms would then also help you manage hot flashes.

Solution – Exercise

Regular exercise is an effective treatment for all of the above. It reduces anxiety, lets you manage stress better, helps with weight control, and reduces mood swings. So even if there’s not a direct correlation between exercise and hot flashes, regular exercise may limit hot flashes by reducing other menopause symptoms that contribute to hot flashes.

Creating a regular exercise program doesn’t have to be hard. There are several tricks for working exercise into your day. You can also talk to your doctor and a personal trainer about which exercises are best for you. To make it more fun, check with family and friends to see if they will join you.

This content was written by staff of HysterSisters.com by non-medical professionals based on discussions, resources and input from other patients for the purpose of patient-to-patient support.  Reprinted with permission: Surprising Treatment for Hot Flashes – Get Moving!